Interview Reflection

For the intercultural interview, I decided to interview my friend Medelyn, a 19 year old female of Honduran and Mexican descent. During the interview, I focused on her Honduran culture, as she was born in Honduras, I asked her a multitude of various questions ranging from formalities in her culture to gender roles to classism in her culture.. The interview lasted about twenty minutes, I asked her about fifteen questions, and after she answered each question there would be a small discussion about her answer. When interviewing Medelyn, it was important to rid myself of any ethnocentrism, assumed cultural similarity or differences, stereotyping, and anything that could create a bias and compromise the interview.

There are different steps that can be used to conduct a good interview. I can relate to this because this is where I took advice from in order to develop my interviewing skill in such a short space of time. They

In the roughly eleven-minute interview with my client, Alex, we discussed her need for case management services. She established her concerns that she wanted to address with me, as well as her current status in education, living arrangements, social supports, along with her history in the same areas. We also began to discuss (informally) the goals that she intends to reach with help of my services and other services she may be referred to. During the process, I learned about Alex’s strength and resilience. I also learned a lot about myself as an interviewer.

Beginning the interview and skills/techniques used (empathy, rapport building, listening skills, closed-ended questions and open-ended questions, signs of client engagement)

Throughout this semester this class has allowed me the privilege to get to know people who I would have never talked to on a personal level while also having the chance to advance my interviewing skills while getting to know them. Not only did these interviews and experiences display my strengths such as being able to adapt to certain situations but even more importantly it helped show me my weaknesses. After one interview and the next, I had to learn what role I had to play as within each interview I had to adapt to find my specific role as it varied from one to the next. Having the opportunity to interview a handful of people from the beginning of this semester to now has also taught me that the person you are interviewing can have a tremendous effect on if the interview goes successfully or not for reasons that I will elaborate on further in my paper. Lastly, one of the greatest lessons I learned about while interviewing people would be how to properly prepare to make sure the interview itself go as smoothly as possible. All of these factors have helped me grow in becoming a better interviewer and have helped me grow as a person.

Through conducting this informational interview, I have learned to have a successful and great experience for it, you will need to do a little research ahead. For instance, this assigment asked to research about the person and the company that the person worked for. When I did my research on the person and gathered information, I was able to connect with her as we were both born in India. Even though, we are years apart in age, there still seemed to be similarties in our personalities as we are interested in the same career field. This helped me connect with her personally which is more important as it will help her recognize me instantly. In addition, researching about her company helped as I was engage in more detailed conversation about

My first interaction with my field instructor was a little awkward. Not in a bad way, just because we were new there and Elizabeth had never had interns before, so there was a little confusing across the board. She was very kind to Alexis and I. We had been on a couple tours and she knew that so she only went over the basics the first day that we already knew just to make sure. We cover safety and how it would be best to not be alone when going to the men’s shelter. We went over confidentiality, seeing as to how we have been sitting in on meetings when personal information is disclosed, and reading files with all of their information on it. We learned the basic rules of the Rescue Mission and learned others as we go. It would take a long time working there to be able to remember all of the rules by heart. There are people that have been working there for years that still have to refer back to the list of rules to check themselves.

The purpose of this interview is to help diagnose a client who is in need of help for his sleeping issues and content severe headaches. The purpose of this assessment and first interview is to obtain the necessary information regarding my client; I will evaluate the effectiveness of the questions used during the interview and whether the interview was successful. Below are some of the questions that were used during the interview.

Workplace safety is a commonly used phrase that many do not consider until an accident occurs. Throughout, the US workplace injuries occur on a daily basis. This has been an issue in the workplace for many years, until the Occupational Health and Safety Administration was enacted in 1970. OSHA is a federal organization (part of the Department of Labor) that ensures safe and healthy working conditions for Americans by enforcing standards and providing workplace safety training. As a result, OSHA has helped my grandparents, mother, father, and myself escape hazardous workplaces.

I recently attended the career fair on the 21st of February and while I was able to learn a little bit more about the professional world and also took skills away that I will hopefully be able to use later in my career.

Advice from McCurdy, Spradley, Shandy (2005) for the first interview included being offsite if possible to limit distractions, educating the participant and gaining their consent. As a starting point, the researcher should explain the research and ethnography letting the interviewee know what information we are looking for and why. Inform him or her that a series of questions will be asked or a survey will be given this way they know what to expect, there will be no surprises and may help them to relax.. Researcher must also have consent to interview and permission to record it as well. McCurdy (2005) suggests while interviewing, the researcher needs to ask descriptive questions and keep a keen ear open to pick up on folk terms. Folk terms are used between members of a certain culture and are usually only know to others in that same culture. (McCurdy et al., 2005, pp.34-37)

The interviews that were successful knew what they were talking about and were not afraid to talk about their project. The students that did well you could tell they really did their project or spent a lot of time at their work. They

Through our own experiences, knowledge and understanding we adopt assumptions and stereotypes which limits our ability to interpret and translate what the participant is saying. (Parr, 338). By being aware of what those biases are, one can start to take measures to help leave the baggage at the door and complete the interview and project subjectively. In order to do this, the researcher needs to be prepared for the interview by doing extensive research beforehand to have a base understanding of events and different groups involved and why. There also needs to be a willingness to listen to what that individual wants to say and actively absorbing the information without passing judgement. It is difficult when conducting historical research to not place the ideals of today onto the participant. For example, with Kristina Llewellyns work on women teachers post World War II, in terms of today we would see the lives of these women as oppressed, however we can not impose that ideal onto them as at the time it was just the way it was and they did not feel as if they were (p.144). A good researcher is supposed to be able to separate oneself from the research but this is more challenging than it seems and being able to reflect honestly with oneself to see if this is something you can honestly do is important. However as Joy states, the interviewer has a big influence in the interviewee and

I’ve had quite the learning experience over the last few weeks. I had a chance to obtain valuable information and support from my principal. I learned so much about the administration role and how difficult it can be. When I began my interview, I felt overwhelmed and excited at the same time. My principal is also my mentor; she has been very supportive of me pursuing my dreams to be in administrator. As I conducted my interview I learned so much about the principal’s role. I asked my principal a series of questions. The questions were based on the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium Standards (ISLLC). My first question was based on educational programs. The educational programs at any school need balance. While we live in a test results world, there needs to be a balance of focus. I look at the type of student I want my school to produce and I surround myself with a faculty and other staffs that not only share in the mission, but also will help every student succeed. In addition, as an administrator, I need to provide my faculty and staff with the tools and resources necessary to make everyone feel successful.

In the book of Job, God uses the trials that Job faces to show the reader his lesson about the motives underpinning their faith. Our motives, while readily apparent through times of strife, are something which we can effortlessly overlook and hide from others, even unintendedly. However, this is one of the areas of our faith that we should spend time examining and meditating on. Looking at my life through the lens of Job’s message I see many examples of where my motives were and were not what they should have been. I find these examples in the story of my salvation, my growth throughout my teen years, and the current state of my walk with Christ.